On your marks, get set . . . : I've been going back and forth on it this week in between trying to do my taxes, but I'm pretty sure that I'm going to try to maintain an event-by-event outdoor track leaderboard on the site this spring, perhaps starting this weekend. The track boards were the primary content of this site back in 2000 and attracted pretty significant amounts of traffic.
One thing that would make the job of updating easier, however, is accurate reporting by newspapers across the state. One of the big issues I've already seen barely a week into the season is that clerks are slapping zeros onto the end of times in track events.
Any time listed down to the hundredth of a second is an indication that the race was electronically timed. But I saw numerous :11.20, :11.40 and 55.30 clockings reported over the weekend, a telltale sign that someone is arbitrarily slapping zeros onto the end of hand times.
Please stop doing that. There is a significant difference between :11.2 and :11.20 when it comes to maintaining lists. An :11.2 (hand) time in the 100 meters is regarded as inferior to an 11.40 (electronic) time, having to do with the speed with which timers react to the starter's pistol.
Accuracy is our friend, so let's try to get it right.
Closing in on a milestone: Bob Hartranft, 65, got into coaching four decades ago thinking more about basketball and baseball. But when the opportunity to coach boys lacrosse came along, he jumped at it and stuck with it.
Now, the Farmingdale veteran is closing in on a big round number to go with 11 sectional championships and 24 league titles. At 598-166, he's two wins away from joining Mount Sinai' Joe Cuozzo (710) and West Genesee's Mike Messere (666) in the 600-win club.
"He has a great resume," Cuozzo told Newsday. "We've played many times over the years and as a tactician and student of the game, he is phenomenal. His teams are always well-coached, well-prepared and play with a lot of enthusiasm and energy."
